1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the art of packaged food products sealed in flexible bags in which they are adapted to be heated prior to serving.
More particularly, the subject invention relates to novel packaged food items adapted to be electrically heated prior to consumption thereof. In greater detail, the present invention relates to a unique arrangement for heating comestibles packaged in a disposable pouch.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Comestibles packaged in disposable pouches are normally adapted to be heated in a pot of boiling water while the food product remains in the pouch so that the product is not diluted by or mixed with water in the pot. Generally, food containing bags of the type described herein are completely immersed in a pot of hot water, and after the food product is heated through the walls of the bag, the heated water is poured from the pot and a corner of the bag is opened to pour out the contents thereof. Several meat and vegetable products are now offered commercially for preparation in this manner.
Moreover, efforts have been made in recent years to develop inexpensive, disposable containers or wrappers equipped with electrical resistance heating elements so that food products packaged therein may be electrically heated to serving temperatures. An arrangement of this nature dispenses with the use of ranges and conventional cooking equipment in the preparation for service of such products. However, these efforts have been largely unsuccessful because, among other factors, the expense of providing each individual pouch with a separate heating element has severely limited the marketability and greatly offset the advantages of food packages having self-contained heating elements as an integral part thereof. Packaging arrangements of the type discussed herein are disclosed by Eisler U.S. Pat. No. 3,100,711 and Theimer et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,290.
Clarke U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,379 is considered to be somewhat pertinent to the present invention by disclosing a food preparation arrangement having a first tray-type receptacle for food products and a heater therefor comprising a second tray of dimensions similar to the food tray and adapted to support the same. A combustible material is positioned in the second tray, which also has air intake opening in its sidewalls near the bottom and pressed out portions in its sidewalls extending to the top edge thereof. These openings form vents for the products of combustion, and also serve to direct heat uniformly throughout the lower surface of the food receptacle and around the sidewalls thereof. This patent is considered to be pertinent to the extent that it discloses a heater tray formed as a separate article which may or may not be sold with the food tray. In greater particularity, this patent states that the heater tray may be made in sizes to receive standard trays containing complete meals, known in the trade as TV dinners. A user may provide himself with a number of heater trays, and use them with any of the numerous TV dinners now commercially available, and after usage dispose of the heater tray as he disposes of the food tray. However, it is apparent that this patent is quite distinct from the present invention in that it is not concerned with an electrically heated nondisposable type of appliance or with comestibles packaged in disposable pouches.